"I thought you cared for me."
"No, you assumed that I cared for you."
"Why did you marry me if you had no feelings for me?" I cry.
"Thought that was obvious." He snorts. "Revenge, baby, at the Sovranos, for what they did to my mother."
"But they didn't do anything. It was their father who was responsible for what happened to you."
"Our father used my mother and me as a bargaining chip to grow his power and they benefited from what he did. Everything they have now is due to what he did, so even if they weren't directly responsible, they don't deserve what they have. "
"How are you different from your father, when you are using me as a bargaining chip now?"
"Oh, there is no bargaining here. You are my wife now and you’ll do as I say."
"I won’t," I wriggle again, and this time, he lets me sit up. I reach for the door, try to open it, but the lock won’t budge. "Goddam it," I bang at the door, then wince when pain shoots up my arm. "Argh!" I shake out my hand.
"Told you not to hurt yourself, didn’t I?"
"Like I give a shit what you want?"
"Oh, you will." He accelerates and the car seems to leap forward. I am pushed back against the seat as he zips down the road, and takes a turn without slowing. The brakes screech, and even through the closed windows I can smell burning rubber. Ahead, a car barrels toward us and I scream and close my eyes. He swerves and the car whizzes by us. I open my eyes, only to yell again as I find that we are on a one-way street, heading in the opposite direction of the traffic. A truck blares its horn as it speeds toward us. I yell but I can’t hear myself as the sound of the truck’s horn rises to a crescendo. I slap my hands over my face as he swerves. I fall toward him, only to stop when a band of steel seems to stop my movement. I snap open my eyes and peer through the gaps in my fingers as he turns the car to the left and onto another road, this time hurtling forward in the same direction as the traffic.
I glance down to find he’s thrown an arm across me to stop me from falling over.
"Wear your fucking seatbelt," he growls.
"And if I don’t?"
"I’ll tan your hide, Sunshine." He turns to me without taking his hands off the wheel, "Wear the belt or I am going to do it for you."
The car swerves to the right and into the next lane; another driver honks angrily as he steps on the brakes and we pull ahead. I turn around to find another vehicle crashing into it from behind.
"Oh, my god," I gape, "look what you did."
"No, it’s what you did," he snaps. "Wear the damn seatbelt or there are going to be many more accidents, and you will be to blame."
Hell, hell, hell.I squeeze my eyes shut, then reach for the belt and manage to lock it into place.
"Good girl." He finally concentrates on the road ahead and the breath I’d not been aware I was holding rushes out of me.
We ride in silence for a few more minutes. He finally turns onto the freeway that leads out of the city. He guns the engine, pressing down on the accelerator, but I notice he keeps it just under the speed limit. "Guess you don’t want to be caught by the cops, eh?"
He stays silent.
"You know, the Sovranos' own pretty much the entire police force and most of this city."
His lips twist in a smirk. He continues to drive down the freeway, then takes the next exit off. I frown when, a few minutes later, he turns onto a narrow road.
"Where are we going?" I ask, even though I know he’s not going to reply. He doesn’t disappoint me. He drives for another good ten minutes, then turns into a field…with a white building, and beyond it, a runway. He pulls to a halt next to the building, then switches off the engine. He snatches up the gun, slides it into the waistband at the small of his back. Then he gets out of the car and walks around to open my door.
I scowl up at him and he arches an eyebrow. Goddamn him for looking so gorgeous, in his white button-down and clean-shaven jaw. A lock of hair falls over his forehead and he brushes it back impatiently.
"Come on," he jerks his head over his shoulder.
"Why should I?"
"Because I say so?" He bends down until his face is almost at eye level with mine, "Because I am your husband and where I go, you go."